In March 2003, KAWI Director Dr. Ed Karanja informed the Office of the President that he was grateful for having been gazetted to assume Chairmanship of the National AIDS Control  Committee (NACC) but could not accept the position at the present time. In an earlier telephone interview with the Nation, Dr Karanja expressed concern about NACC's current management and structures.

The following article appeared in the Daily Nation on February 7th 2003.

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Scholar Jittery Over Top AIDS Job

By Peter Kimani

Two months after a new National Aids Control Council (NACC) chairman was gazzeted, he has not taken up the offer.

Prof. Edward N. Karanja was to replace Dr. Mohammed Abdullah, whose exit warrant was gazzeted on December 24^th, just days before the general election.

Nobody at the secretariat seems to know when a new board will be constituted or when it will hold its inaugural meeting.

Though he is hesitant to admit it,  it now appears that Prof Karanja has rejected the appointment, one of the last made by President Moi.

Says he: “I am still mulling over that one. Right now I am not quite sure whether I want to be involved in the organisation without any official commitment to changing its structure.”

“I am skeptical that the radical changes needed to make NACC effective will be made. Otherwise, I shall be officiating over nothing but a circus of meetings.”

The US-based academic is already back in New York City after a year’s sabbatical in Nairobi to found the Kenya Aids Watch Institute (Kawi), a private research and data collection centre.

Despite NACC’s explanation that the post is non-executive and so the chairman comes only for meetings, Prof Karanja reveals that he has problems with the fact that his is probably a political appointment.

Prof. Karanja says: “Political appointments can take weird turns and you need to reflect on them a little carefully.”

But he cites other reasons for his circumspection: “More importantly, I am going to be involved in some projects where I shall have greater impact on HIV/Aids but that might be a smack of conflict of interest…”

There was no response from the office of the head of Civil Service, Francis Muthaura, who is said to be responsible for constituting a multi-sectoral board for NACC.

But he has not slammed the door completely on NACC. He says it all depends on how the government reacts to his fears.

In the meantime: “I am back and enjoying it,” said Prof. Karanja who teaches philosophy at City University of New York.

There isn’t much joy  at NACC, plagued by controversy throughout its short life. Formed in December, 1999, to spearhead the campaign against HIV/Aids, it came under the spotlight last year when the Kenya Medical Association claimed Sh. 19 million had been lost in procurement irregularities.

Its tender committee was said to have convened to award a tender to print T-shirts, shorts and hats worth  a Sh. 4.6 million, only to realize these had already been supplied.

It also emerged that NACC had awarded a Sh. 6.3 million contract to a Nairobi advertising firm  without competitive bidding.

It was not immediately clear what led to the replacement of Dr. Abdullah, but it appeared audit reports did not give NACC a clean bill of health.

With good supply of money from donors (the most recent is the $50-million kitty from the World Bank), to be paid out till June, 2005, strict financial discipline was likely to cause more than just a dent in NACC’s funds.

Ironically, NACC with 2.2 million infected – and 1.5 million dead- there is an urgent need to redesign NACC to tailor it to the times, though it has made little impact on the campaign.

While its efforts seem concentrated in urban areas, the new team must open up and spread its tentacle in the rural areas.

The minuscule drop of infection rate from 13 to 10 per cent does not reflect the urgency that HIV/Aids has been given since 1999, when it was declared a national disaster.